Cincinnati Rock quartet to host locals-only release party Friday at at MOTR Pub

Cincinnati Rock quartet The Ready Stance will be giving local audiences a special chance to pick up its debut full-length, Damndest,
this Friday at MOTR Pub in Over-the-Rhine. The group hosts the
locals-only release party two months before the album is made available
(digitally and on CD and vinyl) nationally.

In honor of our Cool Issue and fall preview, we wanted to take a look at some local-music-centric things. As it turns out, a theme this year could be “The Comeback,” as several artists and a late ’90s/early ’00s festival return to not just bask in their former glory, but to also take the projects to a new level.

Cincinnati is the new Olympia, Wash., this week, as Arms Exploding, Caterpillar Tracks and The Read, three politically charged bands with aggressive Post-Punk/Post- Hardcore tendencies, celebrate their 7-inch vinyl releases on local label Phratry Records. Newport’s Southgate House is ground zero for getting your face kicked in Friday night. Caterpillar Tracks and Arms Exploding bring their neo-Noise Rock — and a box of freshly pressed vinyl singles — to the Parlor.

On their Web site, The Comforts call themselves “crowd pleasers at biker bars and church festivals.” Listening to their latest release, the six-song EP Come On In!, it’s hard to tell whether that nod to their evident fan base is tongue-in-cheek or honest, because the Anderson Township-based band actually sounds pretty damn good for a grown-up bubblegum band content with hitting the suburban circuit.

Wake the Bear — a.k.a. one-man-band Scott Cunningham — celebrates the release of his third album, Player Piano, this Saturday at the Northside Tavern. Dan Mecher of Turnbull ACs opens the free show, Cunningham plays in the middle (with his unique loop-and-sample-centric set-up) and new pop rockers The Mighty close the night.

Scoring glowing reviews in national music magazines for your first two albums might intimidate some artists. But for Wussy, set to release its newest (a self-titled effort) for locally-based Shake It Records, a natural progression and tightness has resulted in its best album yet. The brilliant Wussy will get “CD release partied” this Friday at the Northside Tavern.

Cincinnati’s finest and most popular Reggae crew, Super-Massive, will unveil its first album with two release parties this week — Wednesday at Stanley’s Pub and Thursday at The Mad Frog (where they’ll be joined by special guests Jah Roots, from Missouri).